KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons has paid tribute to iconic artist Prince, calling him “a unique guy” who “did it all.”
Speaking to CNN, Simmons said (see video below): “Very few people know who Prince really was off stage; [he was] a very private, shy man. I got to see it a little bit off stage, but I can’t really say I knew him all that well; I don’t know that many people did. All the way to the end, [Prince] was a very private person. He lived in Minneapolis from the beginning until the end.”
He continued: “One more thing that I wanna say about [Prince‘s] humanism. Very few people know that during his concert tours, he asked him fans, ‘If you bought tickets to a Prince concert, I want you to bring canned goods and contribute to those less advantaged.’ C’mon! That’s cooler than any rock star that gets up on stage and says, ‘Look at me! Look at me!'”
Simmons added: “This is a unique guy, and it would be a crime if the next generation of 14-year-olds don’t look up and say, ‘You know what? That’s who I’ve gotta emulate,’ instead of the modern, sort of pop artists who have producers… Remember: it’s a guy who wrote, produced, arranged, engineered… did it all.”
Prince’s body was discovered on Thursday, April 21 in the elevator of his Minnesota estate Paisley Park. The sheriff’s office later released a statement saying they were “continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death,” but had no further details. Foul play and suicide are not suspected.
Source: Blabbermouth
